China confirms Commerce Minister to meet with US’s Raimondo, Tai

China’s commerce minister will meet with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai this week, with the high-level meeting a sign that the two sides are looking to talk despite rising tensions.  

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will meet with Raimondo and Tai separately while he is at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting of trade ministers on May 25-26, Shu Jueting, the  ministry’s spokeswoman, told reporters during a regular briefing Thursday. Wang will talk about economic and trade relations and topics that concern both countries, Shu said, without providing further details.

Wang’s meeting would be one of the first high-level contact in months after relations deteriorated over the shooting down of what the US said was a Chinese spy balloon.  The US has been pushing to resume talks with senior Chinese officials, with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan meeting China’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi earlier this month, and  the US requesting talks with China’s defence minister.

Despite the planned meetings, China this week banned US semiconductor Micron Technology Inc.’s from selling to some critical Chinese companies in the latest sanctions action between the world’s two-largest economies.

The announcement of the talks confirms previous reporting by Bloomberg about the plan for Tai and Wang to meet in Detroit.